The Metaphysics of Presence and Absence: the Primacy of the Ear over the Eye in the Holy Qurʾan

Abstract

Abstract In the Qurʾan, the sense of hearing and its agent the ear are both linked to the heart whereas sight and its organ the eye are associated with the head. The sense of hearing, which is a channel to spiritual knowledge, is privileged to the sense of sight, the gateway to the realm of carnal knowledge. The ear and the heart are channels to the sphere of absence while the eye and the head are associated with the realm of presence. Knowledge of the world of absence is twofold: The first incarnates in the type of knowledge obtained from God and his angels and the other is that which is acquired from Satan and Jinn. The primacy of the ear over the eye is further substantiated by the Qurʾanic repudiation of the charges that the origin of the Prophet Muhammad’s words is fables breathed into his ears from the underworld of absence.